U.S. Pledges $414 Million in Humanitarian Aid to Democratic Republic of Congo

by bollywoodfever · 07/08/2024

The U.S. has announced nearly $414 million in humanitarian aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo to assist over 25 million people in need, addressing food, healthcare, and displacement crises.

Bollywood Fever: The U.S. announced on Wednesday that it will provide nearly $414 million in humanitarian assistance to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where over 25 million people, almost a quarter of the population, require aid.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, Jeffrey Prescott, told Reuters that a significant portion of this funding will be directed to United Nations agencies and aid groups. These funds will support urgent food assistance, healthcare and nutrition programs, shelter, water, sanitation, and hygiene services.

“This funding also includes direct support (of) agricultural commodities from American farmers,” Prescott stated. He will formally announce the aid alongside U.S. Ambassador to the DRC Lucy Tamlyn in Kinshasa on Wednesday.

This recent pledge brings the total U.S. funding for the DRC since October to $838 million, Prescott noted.

Congo’s army has been fighting M23 insurgents since 2022, with renewed conflicts in the country’s east displacing over 1.7 million people. This brings the total number of Congolese displaced by various conflicts to a record 7.2 million, according to U.N. estimates.

A U.N. aid appeal for $2.6 billion for the DRC this year is only one-third funded. The World Health Organization warned last month that over one million children are at risk of acute malnutrition in Congo.

Prescott expressed hope that the U.S. funding will inspire other countries to “step up as well” and assist the DRC.

Additionally, the U.S. will provide $10 million for health assistance and donate 50,000 mpox vaccines. Mpox, a viral infection that spreads through close contact, can be mild but sometimes fatal, especially in children. It causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body.

The current mpox outbreak in Congo has seen approximately 27,000 cases and claimed more than 1,100 lives, primarily among children, since the beginning of 2023.